


Conis Metoris

by gendervoidkillua



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 15:44:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2434211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gendervoidkillua/pseuds/gendervoidkillua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A planet where Comets and Meteors are beings, where Trees of Life exist. A planet in great danger-and only one can stop it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Creation

Once upon a time, in a far away universe, comets and meteors

CLASHED

FELL

and the comets

BURNED

into flakes of ash, and the meteors

MELTED

into white-hot metal.

And a new planet was made.

Slowly, the ash turned to earth, and slowly, the metal cooled.

One day, a seed landed, and started to grow. And it grew into a Tree of Life, and bore only four leaves.

As the first leaf, the eldest leaf, dropped to the ground, it

TRANSFORMED

turning into a beautiful,

MAGICAL

being clothed in

FIRE

and

WATER

layered upon

DARKNESS

and with hair made out of

LIGHT.

Her breath became wind, and her tears became earth.

The Tree of Life mused upon her. 'She is fire, water, air, earth, light and darkness. She is a true paradox. And her name shall be Ophelia.'

Ophelia stood alone, rooted to the spot where she fell, for many years. But she did not feel constrained, because although she stood where she fell, her mind flew to the farthest corners of the planet.

After many years, during which Ophelia grew greatly, the Tree of Life felt ready to drop another leaf. But unlike Ophelia's leaf, which had plummeted straight to the ground, this leaf was caught upon one of Ophelia's breaths, and fluttered about.

Ophelia's new brothers and sisters had borne wings, and were able to

FLY.

Ophelia could not fly like them. But she had no jealousy, for her years of solitude had made her wise.

'They fly in circles like the comets that created the planet,' though the Tree of Life, for it knew of such things. 'Their race shall be the Comets, and the individuals can name themselves.'

So the Comets flew about the earth, tiny, but strong in numbers.

Ophelia was happy to sing for her new siblings, and although they had not been beautiful when born, soon their wings flushed with rainbow colors, and they, too, were beautiful, for such was the power of Ophelia's song.

A few months had passed when the Tree of Life noticed that one of its leaves was sick. Ophelia was very worried, and sang song after healing song, but the leaf continued to die.

At last the Tree of Life itself began to feel weaker. Death had come upon it in the form of a tiny, weak leaf.

'There is nothing else to do,' thought the Tree, 'I must drop the leaf, and if it dies, it dies.' And the Tree of Life mourned for the poor leaf's lost life, for although the leaf had endangered the Tree, the Tree of Life had much mercy.

But Ophelia was determined to not let the leaf die. As the leaf dropped, she sang a song of healing to carry it, and slowly shades of gentle silver came to the leaf. It transformed into a wholly different creature than the Comets, with thick, soft fur in beautiful shades of silver, black, and gray. They seemed to merely be heads, with long, pointed necks, and they flew about in the Sky.

'They are the color of the burning meteors that helped form this planet,' thought the Tree. 'The meteors, too, were beautiful, but their metal covered much good earth. Perhaps these beings will not carry this hidden evil. To remind them of it, and protect this planet, I shall name them the Meteors. And as it is with the Comets, the individuals can name themselves.'

Ophelia spoke to the Tree. "But what will become of the last leaf?" she asked.

'Ahh,' said the Tree, 'It will remain attached to its branch. It shall be a Leaf of Life, and as long as it lives, no good creature on this planet will die.'

"Then I vow my life to the protection of this Leaf of Life," said Ophelia.

Some of the Comets, who were curious creatures, had heard Ophelia's conversation. "We, too, pledge our lives to the protection of the Leaf!" they cried. And they called the rest of the Comets to the hill where the Tree grew and Ophelia stood, and these other Comets pledged their lives as well.

The Meteors heard the commotion, and soared to the hill. "What is this all about?" they asked, and the Comets explained.

"This is all nonsense! What on our planet could wish to harm the Leaf?" exclaimed the Meteors.

The Tree spoke in her soft voice. 'Those who would wish for an everlasting moon,' she replied.

The Meteors scoffed at the Tree's concern, and flew away, all except one.

"I will pledge my life as well to the protection of the Leaf," she said, then flew away.

And silhouetted against the light of the sun, all saw that she had the head of a tiger, rather than the wolf-like heads of her kin. And instead of their metal-bright fur, her pelt was the color of flames.

'She must be the one named Felis,' thought the Tree of Life.

Felis flew to join the other Meteors. Ophelia watched her flight, and whispered a song of protection upon the wind. It flew to join Felis, and wrapped around her, cloaking her in light.

The Meteors could not stand her light, and flew away. Felis flew alone, battered upon the wind. But she did not thirst, or hunger, or feel the chilling cold of exile. Ophelia's song had carried safety for her.

But even Ophelia's song could not last forever. Slowly, the light faded. Slowly, Felis was accepted once more. And yet she remained an outcast, lost among the stars.

The Meteors began to plot among themselves. One, the eldest, spoke. "Why should we share this planet? Our namesakes created it, protected it. The Comets are weak, and the Tree, as well as Ophelia, stands rooted to the ground. Unlike us, they cannot fly."

The Meteors took great pride in their power of flight, unknowing, or unwilling to remember, that it was Ophelia herself that granted them that power. Without flight, the Meteors were powerless, weak, tiny, and unable to survive.

They began to plot the downfall of the Tree. And as they plotted, new creatures formed from the metal of the planet. Snake-like beings, sharp-fanged with deadly poison, with legs and claws. Deadly. Beasts with metallic eyes and metal-cold hearts—or no hearts at all. Animals came, with powers unknown to the Tree, for their forces were ones of evil.

And they allied themselves with the Meteors.

Felis saw it all, and was worried. She flew to the Tree, and to Ophelia, and told them what she saw, and heard.

One day, the Meteors caught Felis on her way back. Whispers of 'traitor' and 'spy' rippled throughout the crowd. They flew as one, and turned upon her.

Felis would fly no more. They had stripped that power from her, and taken it for themselves.

Weak and dying, Felis made her way to Ophelia. And although she was able to heal Felis, even her songs could not give her the power of flight once again. Once gone, some things are lost forever.

Both Tree and Ophelia were worried. No longer would they know what was planned, what deadly new creations had been born from the metal of the planet.

When would they strike? What would they bring? None knew.

The Comets kept close to the Tree, fulfilling their vow. "We swore to protect you, and we will. It may cost lives, but the protection of the Tree is worth it," said the eldest of the Comets.

The Tree mourned over the Meteors. 'The very name of our planet shows comets and meteors working together. Conis Metoris—comets and meteors, metal and ash.'

One Comet attempted to spy on the Meteors.

He returned wingless and bleeding.


	2. Turning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story takes a bit of a darker turn in this chapter. Pictures of some of the characters are now available on DeviantART, username Choeunmee. Or possibly Choeunme.

Ophelia's song of healing quickly stopped the Comet's bleeding and restored his wings. For the Comets were overall good beings, and healed quickly. Evil holds grudges, and pain, and misery. That's what it feeds upon.

Once healed, Aadin told what he had seen. He spoke of the creatures, born from metal, twisted and cruel. Touches added by the evil sentiency of the Meteors.

The Meteors were no longer creatures of the planet. They had turned into beings of evil.

For many years, the Meteors plotted, planning the downfall of the planet.

Slowly, walls were raised in their hearts, blocking love and kindness, anything good from entering them.

And as the Meteors grew more evil, and blocked off more good, walls raised from the metal, sealing them away from the rest of the planet.

One day, the walls closed at the top. The Meteors were gone from the good of the world.

One by one, Comets began to disappear. Felis, who was considered one of them, was one of the few to remain safe. She stayed always by the Tree. Eventually, only her and Aadin were left.

One day, a single Comet returned to the tree. Her name was Jasmine, and she had been the first to disappear. All were overjoyed to see her, but she spoke nothing but nonsense. Her eyes were full of fear, terror, destruction. Ophelia sang her many songs, and slowly, the haunted look faded. Jasmine could speak to them once again.

She told them what was happening to the Meteors, locked away in their cold metal shell. Fangs grew more pointed, began to drip with poison. Tortured screams echoed within the metal, but not sounding like any creature they had seen before. The sources were never seen, but always heard.

One day, the Meteors took her, and Jasmine saw the source of the screams. Transparent ghosts, shaped like a Comet, no, a Meteor, no, the Tree itself, let out cries of pain and terror. They took joy in repeating those tortured shrieks.

They had tortured the other Comets to get those sounds. And now it was Jasmine's turn. She took a deep breath, folded her wings, and plummeted to the ground.

Startled, the Meteors chased her. But Jasmine opened her wings once more, and flew straight towards the ground. She knew she would die.

She didn't care.

She knew that anything she gave the Meteors would be used against the Tree. _I promised to protect the Tree with my life,_ she thought. _It is time I made good on that promise._

Hurtling towards the ground, she saw pure blackness beneath her. The Meteors chasing her halted, with cries of surprise.

Jasmine dove into the blackness, and saw no more.

"At first," she explained, "I thought I was dead. But I realized I was still flying, though through utter darkness. There were no turns, no obstacles. I continued to fly, for what else could I do?

"One day, I saw the slightest gleam of light. It hurt my eyes after days of darkness, but I flew towards it. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, the pinprick grew. At last I flew up and out of that tunnel.

It was the most amazing thing I've ever felt, flying out. But my joy quickly ended when I turned around. The Meteor's metal shell had grown. Had I come up a few feet earlier, I would have been taken into the shell once more.

It frightened me, how close I was to being captured once again. But far off in the distance, I could see the Tree, and you, Ophelia.

It gave me hope. I was weak, and couldn't fly nearly as fast as before. But I've made it here." She turned conflicted eyes upon the Tree. "Why didn't the Meteors follow me down? It was dark, black as their hearts are."

The Tree answered in her silent way. "To them, that pure darkness, refuge for a Comet, a tunnel to the outside world, was light. Pure, bright, light. They could not stand it. They are so twisted now, that what was poison seems to heal, evil turns to good, and friend becomes enemy."

Jasmine's return seemed to mark a path for others, as the other Comets began to come back. Slowly, one by one, they began to gather around the Tree once more.

They were not unchanged. Gray fluttered about in their once-pure white fur, half unseen. Clear blue-green eyes were shaded with black, and the colors in their wings had faded. Sharp words were sometimes spoken, always forgiven, but never forgotten.

Ophelia worried. If the Meteors had tainted the Comets, once beings of good, what other dark powers did they now possess?

At last, one year exactly after Jasmine's return, the last lost Comet flew back to the Tree. Her name was Ember, and when she was seen, all rejoiced. The evil lurking in the Comets' hearts shrank back for that one day, and that was enough to banish it from them forever.

They now knew both good and evil, and while they had done their bests when grasped in the claws of evil, they knew it had never been meant for them.

Perhaps the Meteors had never known good, thought the Comets, for who would choose darkness when one could have light?

Of course, light sees all, while darkness hides secrets, and the Meteors had secrets aplenty. And slowly the number of secrets grew, needing more darkness to hide them.

Their dark metal shell, pure black, without shine, expanded, claiming more and more of the land, until it was easily seen by the Comets near the Tree.

Once, in the middle of the night, the Tree woke the others. The smallest of cracks had appeared, and a single star's light shone into it, illuminating what was otherwise untainted darkness.

The flaw was tiny, the Comets were barely able to slip the tip of a wing into it. But it was there, letting in fresh air.

"What happened?" wondered Ember. "How did this occur?"

"A Meteor doubted," the Tree answered simply. "Not much, and not for long, but they doubted. If what they were doing was right, if what they were doing was good. And others will taste what they are missing and begin to doubt as well. It is the downfall of the Meteors, for they are suspicious by nature."

Soon enough, a web of cracks would have appeared, the metal shell would have tumbled down, absorbed into the earth once more. It would have enriched the soil and allowed the plants to abound. The Meteors would have been bathed in light, all known, all named, all recognized.

But the Meteors could not stand the thought. Within hours, the small crack vanished, as though it had never existed. And before another could doubt again, they took drastic action.

The Meteors took down the shell for themselves, hardened themselves against the sun and the Tree, calling the creatures shaped from the metal of the earth.

The attack had begun.


	3. Defeat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the next, and final, chapter of Conis Metoris. And yes, it really is "comets and meteors, metal and ash". Just in Latin. And mixed up a bit. And with a few letters changed.
> 
> Oh, and I was rereading the whole story, and I had a few contradictions in my writing, which were (I think) the Tree first 'speaking softly' and then 'in her silent way'. Clearly, silent and softly, although somewhat close, are not the same. So, um, her silence is soft? Eh. I don't know.
> 
> Oh, and the Comets first 'flushed with rainbow colors' and then had 'pure white fur'. So in that case, the rainbow colors kinda shimmer within the whiteness? If that makes any sense? Oh, and I did apparently put in that the colors in their wings had faded. So maybe it's just in the wings. I don't know. This story writes itself, really, which is why it took so long the last time. The stupid story was hibernating. Yes, the story was hibernating. That is the kind of explanation I come up with. But I've A/N-ed long enough (that is not a verb but I just turned it into one) and I'll let you read the story now.

The Comets stared in horror at the monsters the Meteors had created. Some enemies had shrunk, become stealthier and silent. Others had grown, putting more force behind their attack. Either way, all of them would be quite deadly.

One of the Comets, Darron, underestimated a monster for its size, and was doomed to die in agony as soon as the first drop of poison entered his veins.

  
The ghosts Jasmine had seen floated invisible within the fight. Comets heard their cries, flocked to help, only to find themselves tricked and lead away from where they were needed most.

The Cometswere destined to lose, outsized, outnumbered. The Meteors were armed with hatred-sharp swords that hissed as they slid through the air. Too many Comets died, that hiss the last sound they heard. And of course, the Meteors had their fangs as well, dripping with blood-red poison.

Even the planet itself was fighting. Tendrils of metal slid through earth, attempting to sever the roots of the Tree. The earth, in turn, hardened to rock, shielding the Tree's life. Try as it might, even the metal could not slice through their protection.

Above ground, things were not going so well. The meteors and their monsters were gaining ground. The Comets fell back, surrounding the Leaf, but the Meteors pressed forward. Ophelia sang as many songs of shielding as she could, but the Meteors had prepared for that. Metal creatures that were ears and mouth and nothing more caught her songs as they flew, absorbing their power for themselves.

Ophelia stopped singing.

Comet after Comet fell. All fought bravely, and at last even Felis was struck down, murdered by what was once her own kind.

Finally, a Meteor hooked a fang into the Leaf.

The Leaf fluttered

broke

fell

withered as the Comets watched.

The moon's pale light shone down on them, now everlasting.

The Meteors howled in victory, and the few Comets left to bury their dead, exhausted and defeated.

Conis Metoris was like this for many years. Comets were forced into slavery for the Meteors. The plants withered and died with no sun. The Comets grew weaker as well, for they feasted on light, and the moon's pale beams could not satisfy their hunger.

Even the Meteors were slowly dying, though they did not know they were.

They realized one day, and took Ophelia's power of song to satisfy them.

But one day, it returned.

The Meteors were far away, rebuilding their metal shell for more cruel experiments.

Ophelia knew the planet could not take their reign much longer, so she sang fire to the sun,

water to the rivers,

and turned

darkness

to

LIGHT.

The Meteors flew, snarling, towards Ophelia. But the Tree was growing new leaves, and Comets killed long ago, in the first battle, were rising back to life.

They crowded around Ophelia as she continued to sing, and the Meteors could not pass. For although they killed many, the Comets rose back to life before they even touched the ground.

In the midst of the fight, Ophelia lost her voice. The Meteors howled once more, first in victory, then in pain. Their fangs lost poison, their claws became sheathed, and their fur changed colors.

Now all of them looked like Felis, Ophelia sacrificing song to banish evil. The Meteors hearts lost their secrets, which flew on wings of their own, seen by all, heard by all, accepted by all. Without their dark powers, they simply…vanished, like wisps of black smoke. The Meteors' hearts became the same glistening white of the Comets. The metal, once black as the night, lightened to a bright white-silver. Used so long for evil, now it was turned to do good, creating shelters for those growing old.

For they _could_ grow old now, and die. And although to some it would have seemed a curse, to the Comets that had lived a thousand years and more it was a relief. They evaporated, rose, and became part of the planet.

All was well on Conis Metoris, the evil banished.

Or at least, that was what the Comets and Meteors thought.

In truth, Ophelia had the burden of it now, tucked inside her own heart. But there was too much good for it to ever overcome, and eventually it truly died.

Peace came to Conis Metoris, new species created from leaves on the Tree or simply appearing one day, perhaps from tunnels deep under the earth. All contributed something.

One created writing, pictures, words, expressing what happened today or yesterday or years past or even things that might happen or would never come to be (once, a creature came up with the idea of a planet where the earth didn't live and comets and meteors were lifeless things and trees were killed! for paper. Everyone shuddered and swore never to speak of this horrifying planet again). Felis, one of the last of the original Comets and Meteors, thought that the story of how Conis Metoris came to be and almost came to be destroyed should be written, and Khaline, a Meteor with icy beauty and the most beautiful handwriting of all of them, was elected to write their history.

Two copies were created, one to keep, another to send into space.

Somewhere along the way, it was transformed into tiny particles.

It transformed again—some of Ophelia's magic must have strayed into the paper they used for writing.

It folded and twisted and tore itself apart.

A young girl scribbled with her pencil, bored in study hall one day, doodling a mountain for another story she had written.

 _Hmm, that bit looks like a face_ , she thought. _I'll make it one_.

And out of nowhere, the phrase, "she sang fire to the sun" appeared, and she wrote it, and drew flames singing from the mountain-creature's mouth. Next came "and water to the rivers, and turned darkness to light." And she wrote that as well.

She drew the mountain-creature again. This time, it was smaller. A younger version, she decided. A creature, a _magical_ creature, clothed in fire and water layered upon darkness, with hair made of light. Her breath became wind and her tears became earth.

The girl thought that was rather poetic, so she wrote it down.

She wondered who else would live with this odd creature (and what would it be named?).

She sketched a bat. No, the wings weren't right. Except they were, only…not. So she redrew them, and they were better. And somehow she knew that despite the dull colors of her pencil, they had icy-blue eyes and fur that was shimmering with rainbow colors. Only hidden.

And then she drew a head with a triangular neck, and gave it tiger ears and tiger eyes and striped it with orange and black (well, only black, since she had no orange). And she called it Felis. And she knew Felis was odd, but she didn't know why. And that little bat was a Comet, because it just…was. And then she wrote about it to her friend, who lived far away, and decided that the mountain-creature was named Ophelia.

She continued to work on it, sketching whatever came, writing the phrases that flew to her. In the end, it was two pages of notebook paper, one for a battle over a leaf (which seemed odd to her, but then again the creatures were rather strange) and another for how her planet came to be, which was, of course, important.

A name for the planet, she thought. It needs a name. So she went home, and she translated comets and meteors and metal and ash into Latin using her computer, because that, after all, was what her planet was made of. And she mixed them up and accidentally changed a letter or two and decided that Conis Metoris would be a very good name indeed for her planet.

She wondered where to put her story, so she went on a site she knew of because she had already posted a story on there and typed up the first chapter of her story about Conis Metoris. And she posted it, not really thinking, and then started writing the second chapter and then forgot all about it. Seven months later, she felt full of guilt and went back to the story and wrote on it some more. The Meteors, she realized, were preparing for war. Against the Tree (she knew now, of course, that the Tree was spelt with a capital T, of course it was, it was a Tree of Life, and who ever heard of a Tree of Life without a capital T? Or a capital L, for that matter), she knew. And against the Leaf (also a capital L, for Leaves of Life must have capital Ls), that was what the Meteors were waging war for.

And so she typed some more and wondered if she could use this later for her short story that would come up later in the year because if so, it would save her a whole lot of typing. And coming up with a new idea, for she was out of them.

Finally, she finished the second and went to work on the third and that was done much more quickly, like the story was eager to be finished. But she shook that off, because while she could somehow believe in her Conis Metoris and her Comets and her Meteors and her Ophelia and her Tree of Life, she still couldn't believe in a story writing itself (which was kind of silly, when she thought about it) but she couldn't believe it anyways and so she finished. And then, as an after thought, she added how the story started. And then, realizing that it would all become a recursive infinite mess unless she ended it with that she added that she added how the story started, she ended the story. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, that is how this got started. A picture of a mountain and the phrase "she sang fire to the sun". Except, I flatter myself with drawing skills that DON'T EXIST AT ALL in real life.
> 
> So, this is the end of Conis Metoris. No sequels, sadly, for Conis Metoris has apparently turned into a utopia.
> 
> Anyways, that's all for now! I'm working on a couple of other stories I'd like to post on here as well, but they're slow going.
> 
> "But when your hair starts imitating Medusa and says it can predict the future, well, that's when things start getting crazy. And by things, I mean me."
> 
> That would be a nice little sentence from Strike's Side, coming soon to a FictionPress account near you!
> 
> See ya then!
> 
> ~moonmist18~


End file.
